On the 4th of July 1952 all Florence Chadwick could see was a thick wall of fog as she swam hour after hour just off the California coast. Florence had already been the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways. The challenge she set for herself now was to be the first woman to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast and she was doing it in front of a national television audience.

The water was icy cold, her body was tired and numb, and the fog was so thick it was hard for her to see even the support boats that were sailing alongside her. Yet on she went toward the shore as the swim became more and more difficult. When she began to really struggle her mother and coach encouraged her from one of the support boats, letting her know it wasn’t much further.

Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore and demanded to be pulled into the boat. When she was safely in the boat she was just one short mile from the shore.

When Florence arrived on shore and spoke to reporters she said, “If I could have only seen the shore. But when I looked up, all I could see was fog, and it didn’t look like I had made any progress at all. It looked the same way it looked when I first began. If I could have only seen the shore, I could have made it.”

Two months later she tried again, but this time she held a clear picture of the shore in her mind. Although the weather was misty again, she kept that visual picture of the shore in her mind and succeeded! With that swim Florence Chadwick became the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel, destroying the men’s record by two hours.

What a difference it can make when we visualize our goals and keep our focus on those images throughout the struggles we may encounter.

Wishing you success in all aspects of life,Tom KlisiewiczFounder and PresidentSmart Health Wellness and Performance

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